Ars Arcanum
by ExistenceIsFutile23
Summary: Meet the band 'Ars Arcanum': Riku singer, Demyx guitar, Cloud guitar, Axel bass, Roxas drummer. RoxasXNamine
1. Jack of Heart's

Okay this idea popped into my head while playing guitar hero and then going to listen to 'This Is Halloween' and 'Passion' (since those songs remind me of Kingdom Hearts for _some_ reason. I wonder why??)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingom Hearts, Dragon Force or Utada Hikaru (Oh, that's going on my wishlist...)

--

_**Jack of Hearts**_

"Demyx get your stupid snacks off my bunk!" Riku yelled from the bunk room of the bus.

"Hey! I thought we made the rule of no food in the bunk rooms!" Axel yelled from his own bunk. "Then why are you eating a burrito in here?" Riku asked. Axel finished it and sat up, "Where's old buddy Roxas at?"

"He went out to get some candy from the gas station, and Cloud wanted to get one of those Rockstar Juiced he's always drinking..." Riku told him.

The famous five piece band "Ars Arcanum" had stopped their tour bus at this gas station in the middle of no where to fill up. Their bus was all black (band color, original huh?) and stood out well in the deserts that surrounded Olympus Colosium or, their concert area for that night.

Riku left the room to sit down next to Demyx on a bus couch. "How does this sound?" Demyx, the bands guitarist said and strummed a few chords on his acoustic.

Riku, the bands singer thought they sounded good and gave him a thumbs up.

"You guys writing songs without me again?" Axel yelled from the bunk room.

"No, Demyx was just showing me some chor-" but Riku stopped talking and frowned when Axel ran out of the room to them with his acoustic bass.

"He was just showing me a chord progression" Riku muttered.

"Alright! Jam Session!" Demyx shouted and started playing again. "Come on Riku, start making lyrics for this!" Demyx persisted when Riku got up to go and take a nap. Demyx was the only openly gay member of the band. The rest of the band didn't care because they had no problem with it and were friends with Demyx anyways.

Riku was annoyed sometimes though when Demyx would try to get on his nervs by flirting with him.

"Man, you guys always have stupid acoustic practices so that I can't join in! Do guys hate me?" Roxas , the bands drummer stepped onto the bus holding a bag filled to the top with candy.

"You're gonna rot your teeth bro" Axel said to the youngest member of the band.

"Hey, that's a cool song! What is it?" Roxas asked while he opened a big bag of Twizzlers. "I call it 'Raining Moogles'!" Demyx said.

"Hang on, I got a good bass line" Axel said and started playing an intricate bass line that was catchy.

"Nice!" Demyx said.

Most people would think that the bass player is the least important part of the band, but not Axel. He was known for coming up with catchy and intricate bass lines.

"Do you like it Riku?" Roxas asked. "Yeah, we can work on it tomorrow all together, but I really need to see the setlist for tonight" Riku told him.

Roxas gave him one of the many copies.

Riku retreated to his bunk and looked down at the 13 song setlist.

OLYMPUS COLOSIUM SETLIST

01) Oblivion

02) H.E.A.R.T.L.E.S.S.

03) Malificent

04) One Sky, One Destiny

05) The Song That Never Was

06) This is Halloween

07) Nobodies Are Nobodies

08) Thundaga!

09) Passion

10) Air Raid

11) Omnislash (Cloud guitar solo)

12) Twilight Town

13) 13

He smiled. Ars Arcanum had released only one CD but was instantly risen to fame. They were touring for the CD called 'Oathkeeper' right now and loved playing their 11 songs every night for sold out venues.

Their big hit 'Oblivion' was first on the list and was also Riku's favorite to sing.

Tonight though the crowd was in for a surprise... They were doing two cover songs that were slightly altered to sound like thier own. That is, they took the song and made it heavier with some of the backup lyrics screamed by Axel. 'This Is Halloween' was Roxas' favorite song in the world so they decided they would cover it. Also, the band all liked the song 'Passion' by Utada Hikaru, so that was getting covered too.

Finally the other guitarist of the band, Cloud, got back on the bus with a bag of Rockstars.

"Hey Cloud! We're making a new song!" Demyx said but Cloud just kept filling his personal minifridge with Rockstars and ignored him.

"His headphones are in..." Roxas told them, watching the wall mounted plasma t.v.. Cloud usually tuned everyone and everything out with his Zune that was always cranked up. It was almost always playing his favorite band Dir En Grey **(D)**.

Cloud looked up at Demyx, Axel and Roxas and yelled "I'm listening to Dragon Force! Through the Fire and Flames! I'm studying guitar solos, but I had to use my computer to speed it up because they were playing too slow!" **(hahahahahahahaha that's funny...)**.

The driver, Cid, got onto the bus and took his seat. "To Olympus!" he flicked his cigarette out the door and closed it.

They were going to meet their manager, Mickey, there like they always did. That little mouse always rode in style and Gummi Shipped everywhere.

Axel looked at his cellphone and started texting away, "When are we gonna be there?"

Cid lit a cigarette, "About twenty minutes"

"Texting Larxene again? I swear, that's all you do anymore" Roxas told Axel. Axel kept texting but smiled, "she is my girlfriend after all, do you know what that is Roxy?"

"Ewwwww!" Demyx said and stuck his tongue out.

Axel and Roxas laughed and shook thier heads.

Roxas was bored from spending the last two weeks on the bus. Why couldn't they just rent hotel rooms for once?

He looked at his band mates:

Demyx was fully focused on his guitar and finding the right sounding chords, Axel was rapidly texting, Riku was napping in the bunks and Cloud was at the back seat staring out the window and bobbing his head to the music.

Roxas thought about what Axel had said about having a girlfriend.

Axel had just met this girl Larxene last week at one of their concerts and started dating her.

Riku had a girlfriend back home named Yuffie. Roxas thought she was hilarious and found it funny that the two were a couple because of their polar opposite personalities.

Demyx had all kinds of on and off boyfriends now that he was part of a famous band.

Cloud, the king of one night stands had legions of fangirls. he would treat one to dinner or a movie after every venue and was known in the musician/celebrity world as a 'Stoic Gentelman'.

Roxas was so happy when people on the streets would recognize him as a member of Ars Arcanum, but then he had realized that at least one bandmate was with him when these fan meetings happened...

No one recognized the drummer who was always behind the set unless he was with a sex icon like Cloud or Riku.

Roxas had been hopeful when the band had started to gain popularity that he would meet someone special, but that never happened.

The rest of the band had always said that Roxas was one of, if not the most important member(s) of the band, but it killed him to see all of his friends happy when he was so... lonely.

Roxas was the co-lyric writer of the band (about half the songs were written by him) and tried not to let too much of his recent depression leak into his lyrics. Instead of withdrawing into his angst, he asserted himself to his drums and had been practicing a minimum of 5 hours a day.

Riku tried to get him to take a rest, but Roxas needed to focus on drumming.

"We're here!" Cid announced. "Ay, finaly!" Axel jumped up and put his cell away, "I gotta go uh, check into my room"

"Meet us in the dressing rooms at six" Riku told him, emerging from his nap with a yawn.

"Larxene can come too if she wants" Demyx told him.

Axel flinched a little, "I didn't say anything about Larxene.. I'm not going to meet her!" they just smiled at him.

Cloud got up and turned his music down (he rarely ever turned it off), " Cid you can go chill in our dressing room and help yourself to the fridge if they have one". Cid smiled and rubbed his hands together, "No more driving till tomorrow, I'm gettin ripped..." he ran off the bus.

Roxas put on his own music and stuffed his pocket with candy, "I'm going to wander around, I'll meet you guys at six" Axel was going to offer to go with him but thought about Larxene and decided to leave the opposite way.

He hated seeing his best friend look so sad.

He wanted to know what had been wrong with Roxas these past few days.

After Axel, Roxas and Cid had left Riku looked at Cloud and Demyx, "what are you guys going to do?"

Demyx looked up in thought and Cloud threw a towel onto his shoulder, "I'm taking a shower before the show".

"And I'm going to scope out the guys!" Demyx grinned and pranced off the bus.

"Sometimes his flambouyance is scary" Riku muttered, "I'm going to talk to Mickey and the sound guy" he told Cloud.

The band mates all seperated to do their own things before the show like always.

Sometimes Axel and Cid would go to a bar and drink before a show and Axel would come to play tipsy. That kind of pissed Riku off, but it had never been detrimental to the show.

Roxas never knew what Cloud did as a pre-show ritual, and no one bothered to ask. The guy was always so mysterious.

Demyx was ALWAYS spending time on his stage costume and hair/makeup before shows.

Roxas would usually drift around like a lost puppy. Most of the time he would find something like a bridge or tree to sit on and watch the sunset, since their concerts were always at the same time.

But sometimes he would go and talk to people that were attending the concert. He would wear sunglasses and a scarf so people wouldn't recogize him. Not that they would without them...

"Hello" he said to two girls he approched in the long (very long) line to the colosium. They looked like sisters except one had red hair and the other had blonde. "Hi!" the red haired girl replied cheerfuly.

The only reason these girls weren't creeped out by this stranger talking to them was that Roxas had a tape recorder, so they knew they were bing interviewed.

Roxas loved asking questions about the band to unsuspecting fans to see what they truly thought.

He would never reveal that he was in the band, but these girls caught his attention... Especially the blonde one.

Maybe he would cast the disguise aside.

"Can I ask your names? And what do you girls expect out of the show tonight?" Roxas asked and held the tape recorder up to them. " I'm Kairi and this is my sister Namine!" the red head, Kairi, gave a big grin. Namine was shy Roxas noticed, she hadn't said a word and looked at the ground.

"I came to see the show with my sister because I recently got her into Ars Arcanum!" Kairi chirped. "You like their music? Or just the members??" Roxas asked Namine with a smile and held the tape recorder closer to her.

She blushed and looked down then mumbled something incoherant. "Excuse me?" Roxas asked. Kairi slapped her sister on the back, "Come on Namine! Tell him about how you absolutly ADORE one member of the band!" Namine turned redder.

"Uh, you don't have to answer if you don't want to..." Roxas told her feeling a little like a jerk.

Namine looked up, but not at Roxas, "No it's okay... I like the band's music and the members as well. But mostly the music..." she went back to her stare at the ground. Kairi rolled her eyes, "Yeah right, she's obsessed with the drummer of Ars Arcanum, Ricky!" Roxas almost dropped his tape recorder and jaw.

"His name is Roxas and he's my favorite drummer... I'm not obsessed i'm just a fan" she blushed again.

Roxas smiled and tuned out Kairi, who was loudly ranting about all of the drawings Namine did of Roxas (or 'Ricky' in her case).

He was amazed that he had found a fan of... him!

"Well, uh... You guys are in for a surprise!" Roxas told them.

Kairi looked around, "We're on 'Candid Camera'?!". Roxas and Namine sweatdropped, "Um, no. I'm giving you girls these backstage passes! I'm only allowed to give out two" Kairi looked like she was about to have an anyrism and the concert goers nearby glared at the two girls.

Roxas handed them the passes and put the tape recorder in his pocket.

"Also..." he said and removed the scarf then sunglasses, "Hi, my name's Roxas" he smiled.

The crowd started mumbling.

"THE DRUMMER FROM ARS ARCANUM THATS HIM!!" a guy in the crowd yelled. The line broke up as everyone ran at him with pens, paper, shirts and even bare chests to sign.

"Oh no..." Roxas said and quickly grabbed Kairi's hand to shake, "It was nice meeting you girls", he grabbed Namine's and kissed it.

"Security will escort you back stage after the show if you wanna meet the band"

He let go and started to run away from the swarm of hungry fans.

Namine held out her hand, "Wait! I want to meet YOU!"

Kairi was jumping up and down in joy.

Roxas smiled the whole way back to meet Axel.

--

yeah! rock band! Go Roxas!

thanks for reading


	2. Five Piece Limelight

Next chapter finally. Thanks for the reviews!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts, but I did write the lyrics to the song 'Oblivion'.

--

_**Five Piece Limelight**_

Roxas would have to wait to tell Axel about his amazing experience, because he couldn't find him.

He was probably with Larxene.

Riku was still talking to the sound guys, Cloud was still doing whatever the hell Cloud did before a show, and Roxas found Demyx talking to... a girl.

Roxas wouldn't have thought it funny if Demyx was just talking to a fan girl before the show, but now Demyx was sitting with this girl in their tour bus, sharing a drink with her...

"Uh... hi" Roxas waved and backed down the stairs of the bus.

"No wait!" Demyx said standing up, "This is Roxas the drummer" he said happily to the girl.

The girl had long black hair and bright green eyes. She wore a jean skirt with black leggings and a tight white band tee that said 'Ars Arcanum' in black letters that looked splattered in paint.

Roxas had never seen this tee shirt and he was in the band...

"Roxas this is Naomi" Demyx introduced her. The girl gave a shy and quiet , "hello".

Roxas smiled and shook her hand.

"You'll never guess who she is!" Demyx said with his hands on his hips like he held the worlds biggest secret.

"Uh, Naomi?" Roxas replied. Naomi laughed a small giggle, "No!" Demyx told him, "She's Tifa's niece!".

The girl blushed and took a sip of her drink.

Tifa helped with all the band's clothing designs (most likely where Naomi had gotten her shirt), and was rumored to have had a thing going with Cloud a while back...

"Tifa asked me to introduce her to the band" Demyx said proudly.

He handed her a special back stage pass and told her where to go to get to the front row of the show and where to go after it.

Naomi said bye and thanked them, then got their autographs on her shirt. Roxas signed the stomach area while Demyx signed... right on the chest.

"That tickles" she giggled as he wrote.

She thanked them again and left blushing.

"What the hell man?!" Roxas asked with a big grin and an elbow nudge in Demyx' side.

He grinned and sat down, "she's beautiful" he said.

"But... she's a girl" Roxas reminded him. Demyx looked at the roof, "yeah, but I think I just fell in love with a girl..."

Roxas fixed himself a drink (personal milkshake maker) and sat next to Demyx.

"How old is she?"

"Only two years younger than me!" Demyx said. "She's really pretty" Roxas told him. "Uh, how about amazing?" Demyx said, "the body of a goddess too..."

Roxas laughed. "Well shouldn't you be getting your costume and makeup ready?" he asked the guitarist.

Demyx shook his head, "naw, I'm going out just like this."

Roxas was surprised. Demyx looked... normal. he was dressed in a shirt and jeans and wasn't wearing his makeup or hairspray.

Naomi had turned him straight...

--

Roxas and Demyx went to the dressing room at six as planned. The rest of the band was already there.

"What's up" Axel greeted them and put out his cigarette.

Everyone in the band smoked except Roxas and Riku (Demyx only when he drank).

"I have an announcement everyone" Demyx said and held up his hands. Axel looked up from his texting, Riku from his book and Cloud paused his music.

"I'm in love" Demyx said, Axel laughed and looked back at his phone while Riku got up to go to the bathroom.

"With a girl."

Everyone stopped and looked up at Demyx.

"You mean you're not... gay anymore?" Axel asked with wide eyes.

Demyx nodded and smiled.

Axel put away his phone and stood up, "damn that must be one hot girl..."

"She's Tifa's niece" Demyx told them. Cloud visibly stiffened and opened his mouth to talk.

Before the conversation could go on, Mickey walked into the room, "it's time guys".

--

Going on stage was so brutal for Roxas. Just walking onto the huge stage, hearing the noise of the crowd and seeing the blinding stage lights made him shake every time he went on.

But he always got back to normal when the first song started.

He took his seat behind the set and picked up a pair of sticks.

Cloud, Axel and Demyx all picked up their guitars from stands and Riku walked onto the stage waving like a cool champ. The crowd was going nuts.

The first song, 'Oblivion', was a numbingly fast song and was full of intricate drum fills.

Cloud played the starting riff of the song and the crowd screamed. The rest of the band joined in and the crowd started jumping.

Riku joined in with his lyrics:

"_Now I'm ending it all, The dusk begins to fall,_

_Now I'm right here always... Now I'm right here always..._

_And I'm never coming down! But you're the one in between._

_Crashing down into myself! I get up off the ground_

_Crashing down into ourselves! _

_All i need is my oblivion!_

_All you need is your oblivion!_

_Changing everyday so i can come around! All the people were right about me._

_I want to see my end like i want to see you down! People can't tell that I'm not me._

_I cant, seem to change in the way you want! _

_I can, let you know that I'm comfortably fading!_

_I won't, ever let you figure me out!_

_I want, to feel the graceful platonic insides! _

_Crashing down into myself! I get up off the ground_

_Crashing down into ourselves!_

_All i need is my oblivion!_

_All you need is your oblivion!_

_Live through me! spread your wings! Live through me! Spread your wings!_

_Fly away! I want to see my end like i want to see you down!_

_Changing everyday so i can come around! I don't have to be like you!_

_Oblivion!_

_Oblivion!_

_GO!GO!GO!GO!_

_GO!GO!GO!GO!_

_Oblivion..."_

The song ended and the crowd screamed and cheered. The whole band was pumped now and ready for the next song.

Roxas looked but couldn't find Namine or Kairi anywhere.

Demyx saw Naomi in the front row and was putting on a show for her.

Riku yelled to the crowd and the next song started up, a jumpy, bass-y song called 'H.E.A.R.T.L.E.S.S.', Roxas had written the lyrics for it.

The song was longer and had a guitar solo by Demyx.

When the song ended Riku drank from a water bottle, spit it into the crowd, then threw the bottle into the mosh pit area.

The crowd loved it.

Song three and four passed by fast for Roxas, they were very heavy songs. 'Malificent' (which required him to use his double bass pedal) and 'One Sky, One Destiny' (which had a large drum solo and was an epic guitar riffy song).

By now Roxas was sweating and took off his shirt. The crowd cheered and he threw the balled up shirt into it.

The next song was a slower song where Demyx played acoustic guitar and Cloud used an effect on his guitar that was very clean and echoic.

It was called 'The Song That Never Was' and was written by Riku and Roxas together.

After the song, Axel pulled a huge squirt gun from the side of the stage and started to soak the mosh pit, Axel was laughing and the crowd was jumping around in the water. The band played the next four songs which included their own heavier versions of 'This is Halloween' and 'Passion'.

When the guitar riff to the next song started the crowd started jumping to the rhythm.

The song, 'Air Raid' was their second single and was also written by Roxas.

The noise was deafening as the song ended, but the mosh pit kept going so Roxas started counting off the next song to keep them jumping.

'Omnislash' was a song with no words and a blazing guitar solo by Cloud.

The mosh pit loved it and Cloud took center stage.

The next song was a more experimental song with lots of changing guitar effects and simple drumming. It was called 'Twilight Town' and featured a bass solo by Axel.

Their last song was easily the most epic and it was how they always ended their concerts. "13! 13! 13!" Riku yelled to the crowd. That was the name of the song.

It was more than eight minutes long and had a lot of instrumentals.

When they finished, Roxas threw all his pairs of sticks into the crowd.

Demyx ran back and forth on the stage giving the crowd high fives. Axel started squirting people again and Riku jumped into the crowd to crowd surf.

Cloud actually gave his guitar to a kid in the front row who looked like he was going to pass out.

they all left the stage with smiles.

--

"Cid! toss me a beer!" Axel shouted when they all walked back into the dressing room where Cid was already drinking. Cloud instantly put on his headphones and sat drinking one of his energy drinks.

He may have been frowning (as usual) but Roxas could tell he was happy with the performance.

Riku flopped down on the couch next to Cloud and Axel, tired from singing his heart out on stage.

Demyx meanwhile was running around excited (as usual for him after a show) talking about what happened on stage.

"Naomi was watching, and I thing some guy got punched in the mosh pit, and Roxas did this awesome fill when I did a solo, and Naomi was so hot!"

Roxas smiled at the older mans excitement and sat in a bean bag.

"You did good tonight Roxas" Riku complimented with his eyes closed and head back. Axel nodded in agreement and made a toast (which only he and Cid shared). "Thanks guys, I think the practice helped."

There was a knock on the door and it opened. Everyone brought their attention to the people filing through the door. First was Naomi, who was instantly grabbed and pulled to a seat by Demyx.

Tifa walked in behind her and looked at us, her vision stopped on Cloud with a smile as he took off his headphones with a serious look.

Larxene came in with a bored look on her face and walked to Axel, who offered her a drink.

Then Kairi walked in and instantly pulled out a small notebook and pen as her eyes grew big in excitement.

Namine shyly entered with the door closing behind her and my heart skipped.

"Jesus, damn Roxas she's cute!" Axel whispered so that only Roxas would hear. He blushed and waved at her.

Tifa asked Cloud to go on a walk and the two immediately left. Kairi cornered a shocked Riku for his autograph and Namine made her way over to Roxas. "Hullo..." she muttered and held her hands behind her back. Roxas thought everything she did was cute, down to the solid white mini-dress she wore.

He smiled and motioned to an empty couch that they could sit on near the fridge.

Demyx was talking animatedly to Naomi across the room and she was laughing. Riku looked scared as Kairi rambled on about... something.

Axel and Larxene were simply playing cards and drinking. 'exciting' Roxas thought sarcastically.

He looked back at the girl sitting next to him and grinned. She giggled, "your grin reminds me of Kairi's boyfriend."

Roxas thought that even her giggle was cute. It seemed like something that rarely happened so you cherished it. Or something like that. "Were you fine in the front row?" he asked after catching his breath.

She nodded slowly," you were great. You all were, but especially you." she blushed as if she couldn't believe what she had just said. "Hey you two lovebirds!" Axel shouted into Roxas' ear and put his arms around the two, "Larxene and I are going to dinner, Riku and your sister are coming too, you two frisky dogs wanna come?"

Namine looked down and flushed with intense embarrassment and Roxas sighed, "Uh, you wanna go Namine?"

She continued to look at her hands and mumbled an answer that Axel and Roxas couldn't understand.

"Do you- wanna go on a walk?" Roxas asked after a pause.

Namine looked up in shock," sure..."

Axel smirked, "okay, well we're leaving. You two have fun!" he left laughing like an idiot with Larxene rolling her eyes. Riku gave a nod and Kairi waved and gave her sister a thumbs up.

"Well," Roxas rubbed his head and stood up, "shall we?"

--

Thanks for reading!


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